30 January 2008

Absolutely Authentic Tasting Vegan Caesar Salads

It's almost impossible to make Caesar Dressing properly without animal ingredients. I mean, the classic Caesar recipe calls for plenty of egg yolks and anchovy paste, and swapping out ingredients tends to make something that's 'not quite' Caesar Dressing.

I wasn't satisfied with that, so I put my little brain to work and came up with this substitute. I guarantee you won't be able to tell it's vegan.

In order for you to get it to work, you'll have to do a first stage recipe. First Stage recipes are where you have to make one thing in advance, in order to use that thing later. The First Stage recipe I use to make this is cultured nut-cheese. It's a brilliant sub for cream cheese (the best I've ever found) and the base for all kinds of things (like vegan feta, vegan yoghurt, vegan sour cream, etc). You can find it at my Raw Food page, but I'm including it here, for ease's sake, below the Caesar Dressing Recipe:

Creamy Caesar Dressing

Makes about 2 cups dressing

You won’t taste a more authentic Caesar dressing. This reminds me almost exactly of the creamy Caesar dressing served at Red Lobster.

The secret is in the dulse flakes, which give the secret ‘anchovy’ taste; and in the hempseed, which works perfectly here in place of Parmesan. Your tastebuds will feel guilty.

You can choose to use either water or oil. Oil will give a creamier, richer dressing, but water makes it considerably lower in fat.

To make a Salad, toss Romaine or Spinach (I used spinach in the picture above) with the dressing and top with lots of hempseed. If you’re really ambitious, make some homemade croutons and toss them in, too.

Ingredients

1 cup cultured Real Cream Cheese (recipe below)

1 lemon (juice of)

2 teaspoons dulse flakes

2 tablespoons hempseeds

1 teaspoon dijon mustard (homemade or otherwise)

1½ teaspoons sea salt

1 clove garlic

2 tablespoons onion, minced

½ teaspoon black pepper

1 tablespoon agave nectar

1 cup either water or oil

1 tablespoon nutritional yeast, optional

hempseed for sprinkling

Preparation

Whir everything but the last set of hempseeds together in a blender until absolutely smooth. Let sit at least 1/2 hour or overnight for best flavour.

Toss with Romaine or Spinach, the extra hempseed, and homemade croutons, if desired.

Real Cream Cheese

Makes 4 c

This cream cheese actually tastes like cream cheese, feels like it, and looks like it. The secret is in the probiotics. Use it for awesome cream cheese, or serve with Bagels and Lox (see my other recipes).

Ingredients

4 cups Macadamia Nuts

water to cover

¼ cup probiotic powder, any brand

Preparation

Place mac nuts in blender. Cover with juuuuuuuust enough water to come up to level with the nuts. Add the probiotic powder. Whir in the blender until absolutely smooth (this may take about 10 minutes, so make sure your blender doesn’t get too hot). THe consistency should be like cold cream.

Place in a mesh bag/cloth napkin and Twist until the bag is sealed. Place in a collander and put a weight on the top (I use a plate with a can of something) and put in a very warm place (Like your dehydrator or the radiator) for at least 48 hours. Refrigerate.